Prestart-up activities as a predictor of entrepreneurial success in Zimbabwe.

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Research conducted in the United States of America and South Africa investigating entrepreneurial networks found that pre-organisations (the active subset of an entrepreneur’s total network) contained structures and processes which paralleled formal organisations. This study replicated and extended the American and South African research within the Zimbabwean context.

Thirty eight Zimbabwean entrepreneurs were targeted using snowball method of sampling. Formal interviews were conducted in order to collect data from the entrepreneurs. This data was then used to test three hypotheses using correlation analyses.

The research findings showed that none of the variables being tested could predict entrepreneurial success. This was in contrast to South African findings that suggested that size of network and degree of interconnectivity were significant predictors of new venture success.